How Covid-19's crippling effects are crushing govt funds, credit ratings

Almost 975 of those downgrades have been directly affected by Covid or the partly related collapse in oil prices. If cuts to rating outlooks are also added, that number rises to 1,939

The crippling effects of the coronavirus crisis have crushed government and corporate finances and sent debt soaring. As the charts below show, it is also crunching their credit ratings and causing a spike in defaults.

BROKEN RECORDS

S&P Global has already made 1,190 downgrades so far this year. That is just 136 short of the record 1,326 set in 2009 during the global financial crisis, and more than four months are left in the year.

Almost 975 of those downgrades have been directly affected by Covid or the partly related collapse in oil prices. If cuts to rating outlooks are